Forms, Policies, and Procedures

Campus Tax Exempt Form

WNE ST-2

The University's MA state tax exempt form, or ST-2, is needed to be provided to a vendor when a University employee is making a purchase on behalf of the University, and this allows the purchase to be exempt from state sales tax.

Cash Advance Form and Policy Info

Cash Advances are essentially loans available to faculty and staff for University-related travel or purchasing. Please be sure to use the Request for Advance form, completed fully with proper approvals, submitted to Procurement Services prior to the end of the day on the Monday of the week that the check is required.

Per policy, the Cash Advance needs to be printed on blue paper, or copies are available at any time in the Procurement Services office.

A Cash Advance should be cleared within 15 days of the completion of the travel, or the purchase, and can be done so by submitting a TME Form complete with invoices/receipts for all transactions.

If the expense is less than the amount taken with the Advance, all excess cash must be submitted along with the TME Form.

If the expense is more than the Advance, the difference will be paid to the traveler/borrower by means of a check processed in the weekly Check Run.

Please refer to the Cash Advance policy for all other instructions and limitations.

Check Request Form and Policy

Check Request forms are used to request issuance of a payment when no invoice is available. Please note that if an invoice is available, a Check Request is not required. An example of a situation when a Check Request might be required is in the event of payment for a service, as a referee used by Athletics, or payment for a performer.

A Check Request should also be used for reimbursement of goods purchased on behalf of the University using personal funds, and for which reimbursement has been agreed upon. For all travel, meal, or entertainment-related expenses please submit those reimbursement requests on a TME Form. An example of this type of purchase could be when supplies are required for an event, and a University employee or student purchases those supplies using their own personal method of payment.

Please be sure to always print out the Check Request form on yellow paper, per University policy, and they are also available in the Procurement Services office.

Entertainment Policy

The Controller's Office and VP of Finance released a new Entertainment Policy, which is outline below.

We are making a change to current policy and also asking you to arrange for catering directly with Aramark personnel rather than through the CaterTrax system following the guidelines described below. The specific changes are as follows:

Beginning February 26th, 2018, the University will no longer allow University operating accounts to be used to pay for meals that involve only University personnel, whether on- or off-campus. Food for workshops, training sessions, interviews, etc. that include non-University personnel is still allowable. Exceptions, with prior approval, will be made on a case-by-case basis where staff are not otherwise allowed normal meal times (e.g., departmental retreats).

This change does not affect meal reimbursements within the existing travel policy. Please contact Procurement in advance if you are not sure what might be covered by this change.

The Aramark catering software (CaterTrax) operates on their national policies which require a minimum ordering size of 12. A review of our catering orders shows that this order size represents a disproportionate number of orders. Consequently, when ordering for fewer than 12, please place your order directly with Dawn Taylor, Aramark’s Catering Manager (X1636 or taylor-dawn@aramark.com). (Aramark will let you know when orders might be too small and require pickup rather than delivery.) Please always take advantage of this opportunity (that is, not pay for 12 meals when fewer are needed) to save University funds.

Hotel Reservation Requests

Hotel Reservation Requests

POLICY FOR USING HOTELS & MAKING RESERVATIONS FOR GUESTS COMING TO WESTERN NEW ENGLAND UNIVERSITY

Accommodations are for any guest coming to Western New England University on University business, or as a guest of the University only.

The department responsible for the guest, or acting as hosts of the guest, should first contact the President's Office (x1243) in regards to utilizing the University's guesthouse.

In the event that use of the guesthouse is not feasible, and hotel accommodations have been recommended and authorized by a department head, chair, or manager, hotel reservations can be made.

All reservation requests should come through the Procurement Manager in Procurement Services (Dan DiGloria, x1747).

At no time should a guest or department contact a hotel themselves to make reservations since the special discounted rates offered to Western New England University are not published or on contract, therefore need to be made through specific contacts at the various hotels. This also ensures direct-billing to the University, and not to the guest directly.

The following information should be provided to Procurement Services via the campus Reservation Request Form:

Name of guest(s)

Date of arrival

# of nights of stay

Room preference (smoking/non, king or double beds; although most of the larger hotel chains are no longer offering smoking rooms)

What charges, if any, Western New England University is covering

The name of the department or University employee requesting the reservation

This form can then be faxed to Procurement Services (x2020) or emailed directly to the Procurement Manager (ddiglori@wne.edu).

When the reservations are completed, Procurement Services will contact the requesting department on campus with reservation confirmation numbers and any other relative information.

The requesting department is required at that point to create a Purchase Order for the reservation with all provided information, as well as an authorizing signature(s) and appropriate account(s) for charges.

When the invoice is received after the stay it will be sent to the requesting department and should be processed in accordance with standard invoice processing procedures.

International Travel Form and Policy

Whenever international travel is required on behalf of the University, please refer to the International Travel Policy and fill out the accompanying form completely before travel. This is very important, and involves insurance coverage and other considerations.

Missing Documentation Form

Per University policy, all transactions and expenditures need documentation for payment or reimbursement. Meals at sit-down restaurants actually need two pieces of backup: the itemized slip as well as the credit card receipt. In situations where a receipt or invoice cannot be attained, we have allowed for missing documents for transactions of under $25 to be replaced by the Missing Documentation Form.

This form needs to be filled out completely and submitted along with the payment or reimbursement request (TME form).

This form is also accepted to take the place of a second meal receipt, even over $25, provided that the other receipt is supplied.

Moving Reimbursement Form

This normally pertains only to Faculty and Administrative Staff, but the University will often include moving expense reimbursement included in hiring contracts. Please refer to the Moving Reimbursement Policy below for specifics and guidelines, and the attached form will need to be completed and submitted, complete with appropriate approval signatures, backup, and all required documentation.

Petty Cash Form & Policy

Any time that a student or employee of the University needs to be reimbursed for an approved purchase of goods only, and that purchase is under $50, a Petty Cash Reimbursement form can be used. The attached document contains two of the Petty Cash forms, actually, so please submit only one form (half the page) for Petty Cash requests.

ProCard User Guide

Reference Guide

Once anyone starts looking around on the Procurement page of the University website, one thing that becomes very clear is that we have a lot of policies and procedures governing purchasing, payment requests, campus credit cards, reimbursements, etc. In light of that we put together a condensed Reference Guide that touches on all of the more important points, and allows folks to find answers a little more quickly than going through all of the various policies and procedures one at a time.

Please refer to the attached document, and hopefully most questions can be answered quickly and easily. If further clarification is required, however, please feel free to contact one of the Procurement staff members.

Student Advance Form & Policy

In cases when a Cash Advance is required for a student only, there is a special Student Advance form (attached) that is to be used. Unlike the Advance form that it is used by faculty and staff, the Student Advance form can be printed out on white paper. Please refer to the Student Advance Policy that's located below in regards to guidelines for completing and submitting the form, and when it's use is appropriate.

TME (Travel Reimbursement) Policy and Form

Travel, Meals & Entertainment Expense Reimbursement Policy

Original receipts are needed for all expenses. In the event a receipt is missing or not received and is under $25, a Missing Documentation form must be attached explaining the expense and reason for the missing receipt with employee's and supervisor's signatures.

Meals on day trips are not reimbursable unless for a "meeting" meal where business is discussed, in which case the names of all those in your party must be on the receipt.

Both the credit card slip (showing totals) and the itemized receipt are required for all meal reimbursements.

Western New England University ProCard: Do NOT include any receipts/invoices pertaining to travel using the purchasing card; that info is to be provided on the Accounting Code Detail report separately.

All requests for expense reimbursements MUST be submitted within 15 days of the date the expense is incurred, or trip is completed.

If the TME is delayed for a legitimate reason it can still be submitted for reimbursement up to 30 days after the trip or expense, but will require the explicit approval of a manager or department head.

Please note that if paying for trip-related expenses out of pocket, reimbursement will only be approved and processed after the trip has been completed, and all appropriate documentation, including boarding passes, are provided.

To have a reimbursement check held and available for pickup at Enrollment Services, please check "Hold Check" and attach an envelope with the name of the person authorized to pick the check up. If the check is requested to be held but not picked up within two weeks it will automatically be mailed out.

Please be aware of meal per diems, and reimbursements are only allowed up to the accepted amount based on IRS guidelines for that city.

For driving reimbursements, mileage is reimbursed at current IRS rates only when a personally-owned vehicle is used; gas charges are reimbursed only when a rental car or company-owned vehicle is used.

For mileage reimbursement an online map (Google Maps, Mapquest, etc.) must be included showing the route traveled and total mileage, and must start at the University address.

While Western New England University is tax-exempt, and sales tax should never be paid, we are liable for certain taxes, including meals tax, fuel tax, etc.

Ordering an alcoholic beverage with a meal is allowed (in moderation); however, ordering bulk alcohol is not reimbursable (i.e. purchase of a 6-pack, etc.).

Please note that travelers may be asked to provide backup documentation for verification as to the location and purpose of the trip (i.e. conference, seminar, training, etc.).

Please be aware that if a TME Form is incomplete or done incorrectly we will attempt to contact the traveler to make corrections, but may end up returning the form to the department for revisions.

Tipping reimbursement is strictly limited to 15%.

All on-campus meals being paid for using University funds must have an approved Aramark waiver attached for reimbursement.

NOTE: only meals including non-University personnel in attendence can be reimbursed.

NOTE: only current, unaltered TME forms will be accepted.

IMPORTANT: All approved reimbursements that are more than 60 days old will be sent to Payroll for reimbursement, and become taxable income.